It bears thin, linear scales 3 millimeters (0.1 in) long that terminate in a hair attached by a joint, of a bright brown color, with entire (toothless) margins.

[1] Of this length, about half is made up by the stipe (the stalk of the leaf, below the blade), which is round, a dark chestnut brown in color, and lacks scales and hairs.

The texture of the blade is leathery; the underside is densely covered in white farina (powder), which is absent from the upper side.

[4] Rémy published his flora the following year, in the sixth botanical volume of Claude Gay's Historia fisica y politica de Chile, and described the species as Cincinalis chilensis, attributing that name to Fée.

He was unable to find a corresponding specimen in the herbarium at Kew, and described it as a new species, which he called Notholaena hookeri, in honor of William Jackson Hooker.

[10] Rolla M. Tryon Jr. designated a specimen of Riley's cultivation at Kew as the lectotype, and concluded that it was in fact synonymous with N. chilensis.

[14] In 2018, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz transferred the species to Hemionitis as H. chilensis, as part of a program to consolidate the cheilanthoid ferns into that genus.

[16] A phylogenetic analysis including a single specimen of A. chilensis found it nested within a clade representing A. nivea sensu lato.